Sunday, December 8, 2013

Over the past several years, I have had the privilege to
counsel and mentor hundreds of aspiring writers. They believe with all their
heart that God has given them a gift, a ministry of the written word, a message
that they feel compelled to share with the world. I can scarcely imagine a nobler
calling, especially in light of the battles that most struggling scribes must
endure. Sometimes I offer words of encouragement; sometimes I must administer a
dose of tough love. A couple of years ago, I came up with this slogan:

In this fiercely competitive era, when publishing
houses are becoming increasingly selective, many aspiring authors seek
their salvation through self-publishing. Just imagine: no one will tell
you what to do. No one will have the gall to tell you the market for
your genre is already oversaturated, or that you use too many split
infinitives. You can do it yourself, bypass the evil arrogant editor or
corporate executive, and release a book on your own terms. Power to the
people, baby!

Before we go any further, let's define
some terms: By "self-publishing," I mean a broad range of services
whereby the author pays any type of advance fee to a vendor. Or in a
newer twist, a company (such as Lulu or Amazon) that requires no payment
up front but will print (or e-publish) just about anything you send
them. The variations are endless.

For some of you who know me through one of my many
publishing endeavors, you might be tempted to read that statement and think
duh, of course Steve likes books. He’s in the business. But let me explain.

I don’t own a Kindle or a Nook. Further, I’m in no
particular rush to get one. Count me as one of those old fogies who live by the
axiom, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” For me, there was never anything wrong with the old
version. Handcrafted calligraphy to woodcuts? That
was progress. Animal skins to paper? Wonderful. Woodcuts to moveable type? Genius. Moveable type to offset?
Marvelous. Offset to digital? Bravo. Paper to silicon? The jury is still out.

Hold the phone. The reports of the death of paper books have
been greatly exaggerated.

It’s getting harder and harder to squeeze out a nickel in
the publishing business these days. Authors, publishers and vendors continually
struggle for the upper hand. The business models are changing, technology
brings new opportunities, and everyone wants to be first to exploit the Next Big
Thing.

In a recent online report, Publisher’s Weekly reports a new
development in this ever-changing landscape: Regnery Publishing prevailed in an
arbitration case where three authors accused the company of cheating them out
of their royalties. (The case has many facets, but for our purposes today I will carve out this narrow angle.)

When I hung out my shingle as a literary agent, I had a
crucial decision to make: Did I want to work in the “Christian” market, or the “general”
(non-religious) market, or both? The future of my career could very well hinge
on this important choice.

Certainly I began my publishing career with a religious
book, released by a “Christian” house in 2006. I didn’t even bother pitching it
to Dutton or Doubleday, because it clearly wasn’t in their wheelhouse. The good
news is that we live in a big world of many options, which has a place for
everyone and every genre.

I don’t know where it comes from, but it’s true: The
publishing business seems to be the only profession on earth where so many
untrained, unaccomplished amateurs claim to be experts. They’ve never published
a book, never snared an agent, don’t really know how to work the system. Never
negotiated a book contract or attended a writers' conference, and don’t know a split
infinitive from a split pea. Yet they populate the online forums and chat rooms,
preaching with supreme confidence and dogmatic certainty (with lousy spelling
and grammar, I might add), dispensing advice to others.
.

For as long as I can remember, I’ve enjoyed rock ’n roll
music. And for almost as long, I have admired the works of Billy Joel. He’s a
poet with a piano, an everyman who celebrates (and laments) the ups and downs
of daily life and the human condition as well as anyone.

In the few years that I’ve worked full-time in the
publishing business, it has become increasingly obvious that the book trade is
following the pattern of music: Technology, pricing, piracy, on and on. Truly,
writers and musicians face many of the same struggles, as it becomes harder and
harder to squeeze out a nickel while chasing a dream..

As a young inexperienced writer, I had several ideas for
books I wanted to write. But when I sought to approach publishers, the process
was absolutely daunting. I had no computer or Internet, no agent, no access to
a mentor or a writers’ conference. More often than not, I gave up before I
started. Maybe someday, I would get lucky and make the right connections.

Today, of course, almost everyone has access to those
important resources. Who’s the Romance editor at Random House? Ask Google. What
agents handle my genre? Ask Yahoo. Where’s the nearest conference, and what
does it cost? The answers are only a few keystrokes away. With very little effort
you can easily find out almost everything you need to know, to write that Great
American Novel and set it before the eyes of all the right people. You’d think
that modern technology makes everyone’s job easier, right?

About Me

AAR-member agent.
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I was born in 1962 in an old Spanish colony on the coast of California. They called it "The Village of Our Lady the Queen of the Angels," in honor of Mary the mother of Jesus. Never heard of it? Oh, silly me. Like most people, you probably know it by its abbreviated name in Spanish: Los Angeles.
I grew up somewhere between the gleaming glass towers of Bunker Hill and the bright lights of Hollywood. I was a storyteller almost from birth; poems, articles, business letters, whatever. But like almost all writers, I kept a day job; in-between gigs I found gainful employment as a clerk typist, vitamin buyer, waiter, fundraiser, prep cook, gardener, lifeguard, bookkeeper, grocery checker, printer's apprentice, and meat cutter.
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In time I had a couple of books published. One thing led to another, I edited books for others and managed a writers’ conference, making many valuable contacts along the way. As an agent I made my first sale in only five months; so I think I will stick with this for a while.Swimming, gardening, and cooking keep my hands busy in-between.